reply
by seinooo.kcvii
Summary: ...There's Reno, there's Elena, there's Tseng. TsengElena for QueenAlla.


Dear QueenAlla. Why, oh, why doth thou torture me so? That concept of _triangle_ … But it's amusing me as I was doing it so I'll stop whining. Beware it's kinda _vast_ because I ended up mixing stuff. xD

This is for you. Enjoy~ 8)

I own nothing at all and I always wondered why you always bother reading repeated disclaimers. Oh, well.

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_reply_ (Of sorts.)

Reno shut that small notebook which belonged to Elena (and was stolen by him) and sighed. She was definitely crushing, the redhead noticed. He was now observing her from his table, rolling the paperweight left and right repetitively.

The blond was picking over small details on herself over and over again. "A hairpin?" she asked herself and shook her head.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he asked and his curiosity increased.

"Do I look presentable?" she responded, turning to face him completely. Reno looked at her incredulously as if she had lost an arm, bitten by a bandersnatch out of her carelessness or something. "Come on, tell me," she pressed with one of her arms on her hip which jutted to one side. _Presentable, huh? More than that_, he thought.

"You always look _cute_, 'Len," Reno muttered, and stretched his arms. "So what's today?" he asked, letting her decide. He'd go with her anywhere that pops up to her mind. Such was the show of his unspoken favor he had for her.

"Seventh Heaven! I love Lockhart's seafood pasta!"

"Suuure, as long as you lay off the sweet stuff. Those are bad for your health," Reno warned, standing up to stretch some more however useless it was for he never did anything much. Just then, a familiar sound of shoes clicking against the floor made its way to them.

Tseng peered at the doorway. "Still here, you two?"

Reno and Elena jerked up hearing his voice. "Oh, hey, Tseng. Do you want to join us for lunch break?" Elena asked none too quickly.

"Huh?" Reno shot. "_Us_?" _So that 'presentable' was for Tseng?_

"Just play along," Elena hissed as she swatted his head, waiting for Tseng's response with a sweet smile planted and grown healthily.

Tseng looked up from his cell phone after he checked his schedule. Lunch. The thought of that word alone made his stomach let out a melodious rumble and a snicker from the redhead bubbled.

"I guess that's a 'yes', then," Elena laughed. "We'll go sign our names together at the lobby, 'kay?"

"Whatever," Reno shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked the door open nonchalantly. "I'm not going."

"Eeh? Why?"

"Don't like seafood."

Elena frowned and planted her hands on he hips. "That's bull!"

Slam!

"He always likes Lockhart's dishes," Elena muttered uncharacteristically before turning to Tseng.

"Shall we?" Tseng looked up from his phone and gave her a small smirk – _the billion dollar_ one, to the blond.

-- -- --

The door swung open and the small bells rang as usual, revealing a tall person with his red hair loosely done, in a black cloak with his eyes watching here and there, scanning. Yuffie was helping out (for once) around the bar.

Turning around, she blurted out the usual "Welcome to Seventh Hea—

Yuffie gawked and took a few steps back, nudging her preoccupied friend who hummed in response. "Tifaaa," Yuffie pressed with urgency.

"What?" the barmaid faced the entrance. "…Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'? You _know_ him? How come _I_ don't? Don't tell me this is your boyfriend you've been hiding!" Yuffie whispered as she switched her glance from the guest to her friend.

"I don't know him," Tifa replied as she walked to the searching guest. "But I might have an idea who that is." From behind the counter, Yuffie watched the two in sheer curiosity as she bit her lip. "You seem to be looking for something. How may I help you?"

The redhead turned to her, grinning. His pale face was adorned with two black tattoos under his eyes so he couldn't be Reno, could he?

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Whoa, Yuffie thought, look at his ego skyrocket.

"Axel," Tifa repeated. "Do we have something that caught your attention?"

"Just needed a drink, babe."

The word 'babe' gave him away. The two women widened their eyes. "Reno?" they both shot him dubious looks.

"Aww, man. Am I that obvious?"

Yuffie walked over to them. "No, but we know you, Reno," she laughed and slapped his back. "What's with that hedgehog on your head? Is that a new tattoo?" She wiped his cheek. His original red one was still present. "Nah."

"Hey, hey. This, princess, is a wig. Heard of that before?" Reno swatted her hand away before she could even touch the spiky material.

"What? A wig? _You_? " With every question she asked, Yuffie's bewilderment increased. She yanked one strand of spiky red hair from Reno.

"Owowowow!"

"Wig, my eyes."

"Yo, Lockhart, make her loosen up, will ya?"

Tifa chuckled and pulled Yuffie away from him. "So what brings you here, ehem, Axel?"

"That hedgehog wants to get wasted. Didn't you hear him?" Yuffie glared at Reno, who seemed to ignore that. Reno lowered his head in silence, looking ever so dejected. That was a new face from him the two females ever witnessed. "…He definitely needs a drink or two." Tifa nodded and ushered him to his favorite seat.

…and drink he did.

-- -- --

Elena. She's crushing, alright, he thought, – infatuating, idolizing and mooning him helplessly, _crushing_ them all together – into love. He too, was _crushed_ … in a way that he felt the pain was more than flesh wounds, more than gunshots. _Damn, that stings._

Tifa shook her head, empathizing and watching him. She reached out and placed her palm softly on his. "Reno," she called. "Why are you getting drunk right when the sun's still up?"

"Lockhart," he muttered, gulping his entire drink. "… What do you want? Today's my day off and I'm trying fifty shots of vodka."

"I noticed," she said, gently squeezing his hand. He came alone that day. Elena wasn't there with him and so was Rude. "I _sort of_ guessed what happened. Elena didn't—

He stopped her, raising his free hand before slamming it onto the smooth, black countertop and staring at her way. "…No pity, Lockhart. I'm not pathetic as you thought."

"Pity?" she laughed and beckoned Yuffie, who was watching them from her spot with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, Tif?" Yuffie asked.

"Here's Yuffie," Tifa pushed her to the confused Reno, nodding for he-didn't-know-what_. Probably a friendly request to babysit Yuffie just like last week_. If that was the case, he'd have fun for the day, watching Yuffie wreck havoc and getting her sticky fingers onto everything she laid her eyes on.

"Thanks," he mouthed and grabbed Yuffie as he exited the bar, winking at Tifa.

"Wha-hey, Tifa!" Yuffie yelled, flailing her arms as Reno dragged her away.

The door slammed and Tifa received a call a few seconds after that she received a call from Reno. "What's her use?"

Grinning, Tifa replied, "I offered you a _comfort_. Go take her to an amusement park. She's dying to go there since last week."

"A'ight, sweet cheeks, whatever you say."

Thinking Reno was apparently holding Yuffie away from his cell phone, Tifa heard Yuffie wailing, "Tifaaa! You can not do this to meee! I wanted to go with _you_, checking—augh! You retarded hedgehog!"

"Shut up and let's have some fun suited for a brat like you. Uh, see yah, Lockhart."

"Yeah." Bleep. "I wish you lots of luck you will need badly." Tifa grinned. Reno would have to fill her up about his _adventure_ … because Yuffie was always a monster with rides, asking for more of this and that. She wondered how Reno would fare with Yuffie. Would he please himself or was forced to please Yuffie instead? Would he do well? Or badly? Either way, he would automatically return to her bar, complaining about his day as usual.

The silver bells chimed, making Tifa snap back to reality and Elena was leading Tseng in, beaming for all she was worth. "Lockhart, we're here!" Such a ray of sunshine, golden as her locks.

"What'll it be now?" Tifa smiled at the couple. She had already heard the night before of Elena's night-long chatters of how happy she was to have Tseng as her boyfriend and now, everyday was a date with Tseng to that blond. Elena chose an empty table and the two settled there.

Elena gleefully propped her elbows on the counter and grinned. "I want to try your brownies, you know. I heard they're good."

"They're my specialties…and you, Tseng?"

"Black coffee, if you please," he answered. "…and I'll have a try of your brownies."

Sensing that Tifa was alone, Elena pointed, "Oh, where's Yuffie? I thought she's going to help around."

"Yuffie? She's helping, alright. Just not here, but somewhere. I wouldn't want my bar to look like a bomb just exploded here. She can be a menace with _everything_."

The three laughed and continued their idle chatter. "May he find happiness," Tifa mumbled suddenly, staring to the endless blue sky.

"Lockhart?" Tseng asked after sipping his coffee. He heard something about 'happiness' and that piqued his interest.

"I'm just trying to prove him that men could be fickle," Tifa answered and Elena glared at her and the glare softened when Tifa reasoned with, "I mean, not Tseng, but Reno."

"What are you trying to imply?" Elena narrowed her eyes, hoping she would be able to intimidate the barmaid but she knew she failed when Tifa shook her head.

"People, generally, are only fickle when he or she doesn't know what he wants. Some feelings clouds even a sharp mind so clarity of mind means clarity of what a person wants."

"I agree," Tseng nodded.

"Wow… That's insightful," Elena said. "Where did you learn that?"

"Vincent. He's a walking encyclopedia and dictionary." The two ladies giggled.

"I hope he finds his happily ever after," Elena said, grinning at no one in particular.

"I doubt it. The chances are 50-50, though," Tseng chuckled and was joined by the ladies' laughter.

"C'mon, Tseng, say 'aah'," Elena wheedled, raising her spoon to his face.

"Uh."

"Aah."

"Hm. I can do it myself."

"Awh, you're no fun."

"He doesn't want to look dependent, Elena—oops. I'll mind my own business." Tifa chuckled slightly after interrupting those two and returned to her work polishing and waxing the counter.

Somewhere in an amusement park, from dragging someone, Reno was the one who got dragged around by the loudmouth of Yuffie.

* * *

a/n. yeah, that's it. Hope you're not put off. ._.''' 8D And I was actually grounded from the cptr for a while lol. This is the work of a nerd turned criminal. Snigger.


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